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G'day, mayt! :)

http://a-cookie-life.blogspot.com/

G'bye Singapore!!!

This is probably my last post in this blog... probably because I'd need to backtrack my posts, been the delinquent blogger! My bully sisters would kill me if I didn't upload pictures from their Singapore visits this past year. :p

Anyways, we said our goodbyes to friends and officemates a couple of times last June 19th at Rogues (photos from Mio) and June 20th at our place in Little India. We even had our "day off" when we just walked around the Lion city one last time...

G'bye, Sing-ga-poh! G'day, mates in Australia!!! Watch out for my OZ blog. :)

What time is it???..... Eetz OZ time = singapore time plus 2 hours!

Naah......Time to change currencies!

Hehe. Korny. Pamatay. Bweset. Pramis, di na.

bored in Singapura

My cute Papa and sisters (plus 1 fiancee) visited me in Singapore over the weekend. On top of the usual touring around the city, Sentosa, and countless hawker centers, my crazy sisters and I fooled around and did this.... Hehe.

...AND this! Nye! :p

Haaay, I'm missing you already my babies! Visit me lagi ha, no matter where I am in the world, ok? Luv yah!!!

X-roads...

For those wondering what I've been up to, where I am, what's up with me, here's where I am right now - see pic. HAHA! Huwaaah!

Papa Jesus, pls lead me to the right path ha. I really need your guidance <yet again>... :p

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my FAVORITE BRO!!! Pakabait ka Jay ha? Ikaw kunwari yung model sa pic. Hehe.

Ho-hum...

Lagyan na natin 'tong blog na 'to ng web, para may dating! :p

before and after

Some friends can't stop laughing at the ugliest picture ever in my friendster account, hmp hmp! Well, pangit naman talaga. Kakaiba kasi mantrip eh, just had to know how it feels to be "wanted", haha!

Heeyyy, these before and after shots could sell a LOT, y'know! Actually, these were taken in reverse order. The left pic was taken around 4 days after the right one. Nyahaha! :p

Words of wisdom from the guy who met Joe...

Sorry, I know the movie's quite old, but I can't help rave about "Meet Joe Black" since I just watched it @HBO this weekend. Waterfalls galore throughout the film as I listened to those killer lines! *sigh*

Here are my 2 favorites:

...the best slumbook answer for the question "what is love?" or "love is..", hehe.

"Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived."

...and this one about having lived life to the fullest... (speech given on the night he leaves).

"I thought I was going to sneak away tonight. What a glorious night. Every face I see is a memory. It may not be a perfectly perfect memory. Sometimes we had our ups and downs. But we're all together, and you're mine for a night. And I'm going to break precedent and tell you my one candle wish: that you would have a life as lucky as mine, where you can wake up one morning and say, "I don't want anything more." Sixty-five years. Don't they go by in a blink?"

-- William Parrish, Meet Joe Black.

In times of need...

I have a lot of stories or funny trippings to post in my blog (will have to find time for them, though), but I'm taking time out to share this, specially now that some friends of mine are going through a rough time right now. I've been through the same storm they're in, so this message would really mean a lot. Hang in there friends! Andito lang kami. Smile, have faith. Everything will be alright soon! :)

"We are not put on earth to judge others...
Instead, when we come upon someone who is
going through a difficult time, for one
reason or other, lend them a helping hand.
Your efforts of kindness will be returned
to you two-fold..." :)

Cookie's Eight

I was tagged by Ther to write down 8 facts people don't know about me. As I was reading Ther's list, I had this funny feeling that I've already done this sometime before....

Deja vu? Yaha! True enough, I was tagged by Gwenny for a similar list around the same time last year, but the difference was I had to list 8 weird things about me! Anyway, I made some changes here and there for Ther's list, so here goes...

1) When I'm alone watching MTV, I copy dances from the music/dance videos. I did this before to get ideas when doing choreo for some groups waaay way back, and now I just do it for fun and exercise! :)

2) All of my bones crack! I know I'm still too young to have some case of rheumatism or something, but I must have developed this when I was still actively dancing or doing stunts before (and some bones might have gone brittle coz of the torture, hehe). You name it, I can crack it! Neck, ankles, knees, elbows, back, hips, toes, fingers, shoulders.... :(

3) I'm all for Pinoy movies (Star Cinama, of course) AND all sorts of dance films.

4) I have a talent for developing talents (esp in playing music instruments), and then quitting! (nye!) I've gone through my short-lived phases with the guitar, organ, kingflute, and bass. Tumagal lang ako sa piano (I played 'Ballad pour Adeline', the theme song of Lovingly yours Helen, at the age of 5, would you believe?) and the drums. We even had an all-girl band years back, and I was the drummer/backup singer, yezz, haha! Right now, I'm on the lookout for some drum refresher lessons again, trip lang. (If you know of one, please let me know. Mahal sa Yamaha eh.)

5) I'm a 'second voicer'. Dunno why, pero mas alam ko yung backup tunes kaysa sa main melody.

6) I'm an OA movie-watcher. Sisigaw kung sisigaw sa action and horror films (with matching taas paa), and waterfalls galore naman for drama flicks. One movie that I always end up crying is "All My Life", yung kay Aga and Kristine? Haha! :p

7) I'm like a guy when it comes to shopping. I don't window shop. When I'm with girlfriends in malls, I end up sitting or just standing somewhere, waiting for us to move to the next store. I only go "shopping" when I need to buy something (and I just go straight to that particular store that has what I need). Corny noh? :p

8) I looove pink so much that my boss even noticed it when I do my spreadsheets and powerpoints. Hehe. :)

Ano raw???

BWAHAHAHA! Laugh trip lang... 'eto na ang pinakasabog na report EVER! :))

Cheering Compet turned Spelling Bee!

No offense intended, but this is just too funny!

Maikli na nga lang and halos same letters, nagkamali pa! Bwehe.

I'm just copying this over from my sister Chinkie's blog (kulet mo chi!). :p

Hehe, oo nga naman. Tama naman ah....

Og! Og! Og!

Amino Al Salle!!! :p

No cost, hands free phone

Last June, I was converted to permanent employee, yipee! :) Although there are a lot of perks for being an employee of such a big company, there are also more difficult or inconvenient processes compared to being an external consultant. For one, I had to find accredited clinics covered by our health card whenever I needed to have a checkup, but when I was a consultant any clinic will do as long as I get a receipt!

Another big difference is the procedure for business calls. When I was still an IT Consultant, filing for expense reimbursements for business calls was too easy. I just had to submit my detailed cellphone billing with office numbers marked, and voila! I'll get the full amount the next pay period. After permanency however, monthly reimbursements below $150 are either not allowed or are not worth going through all the red tape; so to minimize my call costs, I applied for a landline since local calls are way cheaper than calls through the cellphone (thanks to Singtel). :)

My only problem with the landline was that I didn't have (and can't find) a headset compatible with the phone unit. My first call using the landline was a pain in the neck -- literally! I spent 2 whole hours with my neck holding the receiver 'coz I had to use the laptop during the calls. We searched everwhere for a compatible headset, but we can't find any (and the one from the office doesn't work). :(

...SO my very resourceful (and kuripot) partner helped me out! See pics for the outcome of his ingenuity!!! Version1-masking tape was too painful to remove, so in came Version2-ballerbands! I always end up having marks on my face after calls, but it's ok. At least my neck's comfy. Uy, totoo yan ah. Haha!

O ha, and I thought these "inventions" were just spoofs in forwarded emails. Sometimes they're actually useful pala. Yeyeyeeaaah! :p

Busy Living Life

This blog's getting to be quite moldy. Iiieew! It's about time to give it some attention before my blogger account's deleted due to inactivity (if there is such an account cleanup going on).

Anyhoo, for the past months I've been extremely busy entertaining visitors (didn't have time to post about those here), struggling with new&heavier responsibilities at work that practically eat up almost all the nights of my week for conference calls, watching basketball games and framing those match reports for my 3-time MVP (naakks!), applying for my PR, watching countless movies from that 500G drive, 'punishing' myself at the gym, keeping company and supporting friends with love problems (yaha! Take it from someone who's gone through a LOT! bwehe.), playing catch up with old friends, learning how to cook (if there's time left), et cetera! Ehem, yezz, I'm one of those girls who missed the day God sprinkled those cooking-instict-magic-powder around, haha! Well I used to go to wet markets and cook with our manang(housekeeper) when I was a kid, but those skills just didn't stick, so I have someone here 'training' me somehow.

ANYWAY.... Let's just say I'm living my life, making it as happy and worthwhile as it can be! :)

No negative thoughts, no brooding over the past, no repeating of mistakes (of course, I should have learned from those), no ill feelings, no criticisms, no anger, no tensions, no fears, no worries, no lazy bones... O diba? It's so easy to write all these down. I just hope I could actually live this kind of life and hold on to it for the looongest time.

Here's a "Don't Worry, Be Happy" article by Geetha S. that keeps me on that positive mood. Try reading it. It'll make you feel better even for just a few minutes, haha! Happy reading! Enjoy living! :)

ps. posts on past activites out soon! Sorry baby candz and family ha... to follow, I promise!

UP Rocks!

Congrats, UP Pep!!! Champions of UAAP Cheering Competition 2007 held last Sept 16th at the Araneta!

Go get that title back where it belongs. :) (sa cheering ha, hindi bball, bwehe)

Watch UP Pep's 2007 video (link sent by my sis)! Eto ang mga halimaw ng Peyups! (ayan, post ko lang pic ng halimaw sister ko, naakks!)

Shux, kaka-miss and inggit! Gone are those cheering/dancing days in hs,college,yfc,&early years in acn (bad trip pa, di pa uso ang digicam and videos nun, haay). I'm now just a mere has-been, an IT professional with a tummy, flabby arms and legs, an aching back, and cracking bones. You name it, it's cracking! No kidding! See #2 of a weird cookie, haha!

A side note on efforts of going back to dancing -- we're starting our Salsa classes on Oct 17th! Yeyeye!

Oh well, you gotta grow up and sideways someday. It's inevitable! (halla, zigi! i-justify pa) :p

Officially a Berdei Blog!

Happy Birthday, Papa!!! :)

I went hiking with some friends this morning down at MacRithie Trails. It's a nature reserve, so I know you'll love it once you've seen it! Trees, trees, trees, and yet more trees! Haha! Yun nga lang, super tiring! I lost count of the number of kilometers we walked/ran, hehe. :p

Oh well, I miss you so much! Enjoy your kuyakuy day with the family (sub ko muna si Mike ha?).

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

ps... Baby Candz! Please take a full, centered video of UP pep's performance tomorrow sa UAAP opening ha? As usual, pretend you're from Lasalle of Ateneo or whatever school so you could sit sa center ng Araneta to get a good view (like what we did the last time, only everybody in the LaSalle area were UPians pala under cover! Haha, mga pasaway! Kunwari pang nakikipractice sa cheers. Bat naman kasi laging nasa gilid ang Peyups noh?!). Miss those days... :)

By the way, this is beginning to look like a "Birthday Blog". Baka may gustong magpa-greet pa dyan, sabihin nyo lang, hehe... I'll try to have blog updates as soon as I have the time.. It's been hectic lately, in a good way -- both inside and outside of work. :)

May isa pang tumanda...

Happy birthday, MADUR!!! :)

I ate pansit bihon kanina for long life! -- for you to have lots and lots more of those happy and makulit years with your beautiful kidz and even more years of sweet (but icky, hehe) moments with our adorable Papa! :) Luv ya!

Love and miss you, my family!

another year older!

iiiieeewww, and yet another year older. I better stop counting!
Well, I'm still within the days of Feb, NON-leap year pa! Hehe. :p

Here are some pics with my beautiful mom on my most memorable birthday weekend. :)

Back to the 80s!

I was too young to remember or even understand the Transformers TV series when it was shown in the early 80s (or I was just not interested then), so I watched the Transformers movie last night just to refresh my memory. I didn't expect to, but I LOVED IT!!!

I don't usually write about movies, but I just have to rave about it and let out these testimonials you see on movie covers/posters...

..."Never a dull moment!"

..."Two Thumbs up!"

..."Michael Bay's greatest film ever!" (uhm, don't even know his background, si Steven Spielberg nalang, haha)

..."Optimus Prime is to die for! BumbleBee's soo adorable!"

..."I was sooo wanting to pee since the first 15 mins, but the nonstop effects, action, and comedy just glued me to my seat!"

Well, the last 2 comments are a bit unusual so we won't see those lines on dvd/cd covers, but that's exactly how I felt that time! Go see the Autobots! :)

Hmm... I wonder if they'd also think of doing movies for Shaider and Bioman?

One down...

Remember what I said I wished for that would come true today?

Well it's official! I crossed out #5 from my To Do list this morning. :)

...1 down, 9 (or so) to go!

Halika, biyahe tayo!

Just another entry for our Independence month (picked up from Gwenny's blog).

Isn't it funny that we tend to see more of other countries and neglect to visit our own? Ehem-ehem, ofw speaking... It's only when we're away from home do we realize we haven't seen much of the Philippines, so we spend more just to go back and visit those wonderful places. Ha ha!

My Lakbayan grade is C! Hmm pretty low, but not bad in the upper areas. See those blue areas on the map? Blue says "I've been there!"... Of course my mom hails from Tuguegarao and Papa's from Sorsogon, opposite ends of Luzon, so I covered almost half of the region just passing through, hehe.

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

wished upon a star

I knew it was a long shot and it seemed impossible at the time,
but I still hoped and prayed for it anyway....

Finally, I'm crossing it out from my wishlist on Monday. Yehey!
I'll share next week. Baka maudlot. Yezzz, pa-suspense pa. Haha!

To Papa Jesus -- despite everything, thanks for all the blessings! :)

Kalayaan 2007

Dearest Inang Bayan,

You've got a lot of good things happening for you year after year, and almost everything's getting better, improving this time around (even the masses are wiser now in not voting for our politician-wannabe actors and boxers, hehe). One indication of your success -- the Philippine Peso is simply on a roll.

We're happy for you, beloved Pinas, but may we ask this teeny weeny favor...

Tama naaa! Enough! Our pay's shrinking and we're working our a** off!!! Waah! Hehe.

Happy Independence Day, Philippines!!! :)

mah boyz

Had a loong&tiring, yet fun&memorable weekend with my boys! :)

Thurs, June 7
My 2 boys came to visit!!! Papa and Jay (our youngest and only bro) weren't supposed to arrive until midnight or 1am, but I was so excited that I went home early to fix the room for them and then headed straight to the airport. I left at around 930pm so that I'm sure to catch the MRT transfer at Tanah Merah (missed it a couple of times before), but this time I was too early!!! I had lots of time to browse through almost all the brochures and prepare our itinerary. Haay... we missed each other sooo much that we stayed up til 330-4am just talking and talking!

Fri, June 8
8-10am -- Breakfast at Suntec. We had siumai and siupau (pronounce as read), and carrot cake.
10-11am -- We signed up for the Duck Tour, a tour onboard a Vietnam war machine-turned-tourcraft which goes both on land and water! The amphibious-theme concept was cool, but I was more amazed by the interesting suff I learned about the different tourist spots in SG. I see them everyday, but I didn't know the stories behind them (just now, after a year!).
11am-1pm -- Lunch at VIVO City, the largest mall in SIngapore, might even be larger than the Philippines' Mall of Asia. We had an authentic Vietnamese lunch at the Orange Lantern, yummy! Hehe, Vietnamese lunch in Singapore. Nye!
1-5pm -- Sentosa! Sentosa! Sentosa!
5-7pm -- We didn't have anything else to do and the Lights show wasn't until 740pm, so we opted to burn time by 'watching' (pero natulog lang naman) a movie @Vivo City, which was just a tramride away from Sentosa. Hay nakoh, Papa kept on snoring that I had to nudge him everytime!
740pm -- Watched 'Songs of the Sea' at Sentosa. The lights/fire/water display was simply breathtaking. I just didn't like the 'skit' in between displays.
830pm -- Off to see the Night Safari. I just stayed outside to wait, while Papa and Jay took the tram and saw the 'Creatures of the Night' show. I may seem corny not going with them, but I saw the show at least 4 times this year already!
11pm onwards -- We ended our day with dinner at Hooters, Clarke Quay. :) I think Jay enjoyed the 'hooters' *wink*, Papa enjoyed the legs. Haha!

Sat, June 9
Slept through the morning... and just fixed up my stuff that I'd send back home.
12nn -- Had chicken rice at the Central mall along Clarke Quay.
230pm -- Hehe, dapat hindi na eh, but Papa just looked so sad and turned quiet when he thought we weren't going to the Jurong Bird Park. Shempre, pinagbigyan namin. We spent the whole afternoon with birds, and saw show after show after show! It was just so nice to see Papa excited, nangunguna pa palagi when walking, and all smiles looking at those pretty colors. :) Aww.
7pm -- dinner at Sakae Sushi City Link
730pm -- watched the Proteo Project Vertical Dance outside the walls of Raffles City mall. Literally a pain in the neck watching the show because we had to look up throughout the dance, but it was worth it. It would have been better if there were more than 2 dancers, though.
830pm onwards -- Papa's university frat brothers picked us up and took us to this oh-so-luxurious bar called One Degree 15 located at the Marina Club. It's exclusively for members, so there were only a few of us having drinks there that night. Wow talaga, as in luhod-sabay-bow to my dad's friends! We were lucky to have joined that night, a night out with the millionaires! The 2-pc band was also awesome. Jay's jaw dropped at the charming singer who turned out to be Pinay (noyps nga naman, sobrang galing sa arts)! Of course, we passed the band pieces of tissue paper with song requests written on them and asked for a picture with the singer after the set. Haha, joulogzz galore!

Sun, June 10
645am -- I left for the Anlene Orchard Mile. Yezzz, nagpapaka-runner daw o! Nope, I was just after the T-Shirt and the 'I was there' drama. Haha! My friend and I didn't run much, but we posed and clicked away, pa-cute!
10am -- We heard mass at Good Shepherd.
12nn -- went to Lucky Plaza to remit (a no-no on a Sunday, the place is crazy!), then Food Republic across the street for lunch. Again, had siumai and other dumplings.
It was a free and easy afternoon for us. Our first day (Friday) was too jampacked with activities that we ran out of things to do on Sunday. We ended up taking a River Cruise, riding the double-decker bus, shopping at Bugis, having the popular ice cream bar with wafers (SG's version of our dirty ice cream back home), and going 'cultured' at the Esplanade! We saw 3 shows that day -- a bad choir, an excellent dance group, and some weird music, hehe. For dinner, we had a feast at Makan Sutra Gluttons Bay!!! Burp! :)

That's the last of my long weekend with mah-boyz... not going to write about the goodbyes, might get teary-eyed.

Miss you already, Pa and Jay!
Ma and Chi! See you in July ha?! :) Let's watch 'The Buzz' sa TFC, promise? haha!
Candz! See you naman in August! Dapat may boylet ka na by that time. :p

ps... why can't you (my family) just come over na sabay-sabay diba?! hmp!

BMW Delivery!

Guess what!?! My delivery from BMW arrived last night, woohoo!

Nooooopey! I didn't get a car, of course. With what I'm earning and spending? Not a chance!

I won FIRST PLACE at a tipping contest held every week before each F1 weekend race. It was my first time to place my 'tips' (or bets) for the Monaco race, predicting the BMW racers' performance for that weekend -- the fastest lap, ranking, number of pit stops, etc etc, and I got the highest score out of the approximately 2000 entries that week! Whoaa?! I could already imagine those who know me very well say, "What the -- ?!" Haha! I know absolutely NOTHING of F1! All I know is it's about racing cars.

I might have ESP or something. It's either I'm an exceptional statistician or just plain lucky. =)

Here are the prizes...

I was supposed to get the DS Podium Square Chrono Silver watch by Certina, but I like the 2nd prize better, so I asked for a trade! Stupid, but I'm not really interested in that man-watch. Haha!

The BMW folks didn't budge, of course. They advised that the 2nd placer had already been informed so they can't make any changes.

WAIT! I'm not done yet...

...when I opened up the box, I sorta kinda ended up with BOTH prizes!!! The watch, the backpack, 2 autographed caps, a BMW pen, and some autographed postcards of the racers are all mine!

I didn't get the t-shirt and the mouse pad, but who cares?! I couldn't get any luckier. =)

my first cam

I bought my very first camera today! Yup, you read it right. I've never owned one since birth. I have this thing about being in pictures instead of taking them, but somehow I was blinded by this particular cam's specs in last weekend's IT Show:

8.1 Megapixels. Super Steadyshot. High Sensitivity ISO 320. Face Detection. Full HD 1080. 2.5" LCD screen. Optical Image Stabilized. 3x Optical zoom. Etc etc etc...

Whoa! NAH, really now!!! AS IF I had the slightest clue of what those meant! Now why did I buy it?

Simple... it's cute and PINK! :) ...AND of course, it comes with LOADS of freebies! Ha ha!

Moving.. again!

We're moving to a new place tomorrow. I'm so excited, another room, another house to fix up and decorate!

I'm getting used to moving places in Singapore that I might as well be an agent. Imagine, by tomorrow I shall have moved 4 places already in less than a year! Haha!

I wonder when (and where) I'd finally settle? Hmm. As I've mentioned in a previous post, ipon ipon muna, and then off I go to be a teacher outside of Sgp until who knows when.

Then again, nothing beats being back home with my family in the Philippines. Hang in there ma, pa, my beautiful sisters and cool bro! I know you miss me, for now pavisit-visit muna ako ha, hehe... Don't worry, someday I'm moving back home. Now THAT's a thought. :)

Tinky Winky purse

It's not supposed to be a laughing matter, but I gave out a loud "BWAHAHA" when I saw this newspiece on the mini-TV inside our elevator (good thing I was alone). See if you can resist a smile upon reading the title...

Poland to Probe if Teletubbies are gay

Why? It's because Tinky Winky is holding a purse, but the poor Teletubby was supposed to be a guy!

Arrgh, anubuzz! Well they may have a valid point, but baka naman he's just very much secure with his sexuality that he's willing to hold his girlfriend's purse for her? Hats off to those guys who do this, by the way -- holding a girl's purse or handbag even if it would make them look silly :-) (you can't imagine how sweet and cute you look)

Pero ha, speaking for myself, I think gays are far more creative and even intelligent than everybody else! Kahit san mo sila ilagay, they will excel and they will stand out! (hindi stand up pag may fafa ha. Andun na tayo, hehe). They even never fail to live up to being gay by being gay enough to liven up any dull party! ...and from experience they, i.e., the gays and the gay-like girls (well, most of them) are the most reasonable, cool, open-minded, sensitive friends you could have. It's not that I'm promoting homosexuality, but all I'm saying is, so what if Tinky Winky's gay? It might even be a good thing.

Pero well, kanya kanya lang yan. Hm.. My sister might be gay, but I'm still fishing her real self out. Hahaha! Jk, baby candz! Wala lang. Good pm! =)

missed performance

We dropped by the Arts Week opening last Friday night at the Padang, but the show's over. :(

Here's what we caught on cam.

Now THAT's what I call "hanging out"!!! ;)

Grr... the aero-formations must have been cool. Haay.

climbing my mountain

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, pondering on what and where I want to be in the future. For years I wanted to be in the A-list of everything. I just had to go higher and higher, aiming to move up the ladder as quickly as I could. There's no doubt that for the past 20+ years I took school and work seriously... As in! Seriously! Sa mga kokontrang trops, it was only during the latter part of college and first few years of work did I live by the 'work hard party harder' adage noh!

Warning: the following might sound mayabang, but I just want to make a point. Bear with me... :)

Anyway, what was it all for? Do those achievements actually mean something to me? Of course, I wouldn't be where I am now if not for my past, but did I just spend the past 7 or so years of my life doing what I thought I wanted?

So what if you finished 10th in high school, 5th in college, and even graduated Cum Laude in UP Dil (almost Magna pa nga, if not for a measly .003 gradepoint)? Those medals and ceritificates are just kept in an envelope or folder anyway, gathering dust back home.

So what if you're a fast-tracker among your peers at work, an Asst Manager in just 4 years and Manager in 6yrs (IF you didn't resign)? Do we get to display our job titles everywhere we go for others to see? Those promotions/ratings definitely proved that the quality of your work is truly exceptional, BUT does this mean your quality of life is as extraordinary?

So what if you were able to fix software bugs and build new programs for your IT clients, and even introduced best practices and streamlined processes for your team? Do those newly improved software and automated processes even have an impact to the lives of others? Hm.. actually, they do. They mostly just cause other people to lose their jobs! Well, except for IT folks, of course. Our numbers just keep growing and growing.

When I die <knock on wood>, will those professors, clients, software users, and colleagues be able to come to my funeral and say wonderful things about me aside from "she's a very good analyst", "a responsible leader", "a proactive member"? Heck, I'd prefer a "Two thumbs up!" rather than those generic/impersonal praises! Will they even remember me long after I'm gone, or will my memory just be as quick as a headcount replacement for the company? No one is indispensible anyway. No matter how important or how great you may seem at work, life in the office goes on without you. Tama na, medyo morbid na eh. Haha! ...but you get my point, right?

Yeah, you did your best in school and at work... then what?! True -- after you've reached the top of the corporate ladder you'll have tons of money to start 'living the life'; but then again, wouldn't it be too late? You'd probably be in your late 40s or 50s by that time. Wouldn't it be better if you started 'living the life' as early as your 20s or 30s? :)

The past years had been an office-bar-house-office-bar-house cycle for me, which was fun while it lasted, but it evolved into more of an office-house-office-house routine. I got soooo drowned with work that I was already neglecting my health, family, and friends, and even started losing sight of what I really wanted in life. I even made some things happen for me in the past year just to get away from it all, only to find out later that it wasn't what I wanted. :(

Impressive job titles are cool, and higher-than-par-salaries are great, but am I living my life fully? Are these what I really want? Am I living to work, or am I working to live? Do I find fulfillment and happiness in what I do? Do I make a difference? These are only a number of questions running through my head every single day... It's like working soooo hard at climbing this very high mountain, only to finally reach the top and realize you didn't really want to be there.

I never had answers to any of my questions... until now.

HETO na ang punchline....

Someday, I'm going to be a teacher. Haha, connect?! Seriously! Ipon muna ako for a year or 2, tick off most if not all of my top todos, then when I'm ready to settle down, I'll be the best teacher that I could be for little gradeschoolers in the US or Australia or New Zealand! Life would be more meaningful for me, as I'd be making an impact to those kids (I'll be Mrs X, the Math or English teacher), I'll have the quality time I want with my future family...

AND I won't be spending the rest of my life in front of the computer. :)

How about you? Are you climbing the right mountain?

tv series addict

Time for myself -- this is one thing that I didn't have when I was back in Manila. Now that I'm an OFW, I have all of 6pm onwards everyday to do whatever I want - stroll, read, blog, and yeah, the all-time-favorite-pastime of at least those in the IT industry... download and watch all sorts of TV series!!! Some would watch non-stop, episode after episode, season after season, and even dared go on sick leave 'coz ayaw lang mabitin!

As expected I joined the TVseries-wagon. I blame Dr. Yang and Hiro Nakamura of Grey's Anatomy and Heroes. Hmpff! If not for Yang's biatchyness and Hiro's geeky antics, I wouldn't have these eyebags that now look more like eye-balikbayanboxes!

Anyhoooo, because Grey's love pairs are getting to be complex love 'webs' -- Meredith&Derek, Derek&Addison, Addison&Mark, Mark&Callie, Callie&George, George&Meredith, George&Izzie, Izzie&Alex, Alex&Addison, and who knows what's next (don't they dare mess up Yang&Burke!)... I sorta kinda got lost there for a while that I didn't know who I wanted to be like among those characters.

I then shifted to Heroes to take a breather from Grey's entangled pair-ups and to just entertain myself in choosing which power I'd want to have. Hmm.. a tough one. At first thought I wanted to be as indestructible as Claire (aside from always getting to wear that cheering outfit, miss those days! hehe); but I didn't want to seem freaky when I start reconnecting my bones and all, so I opted for the mind-reader Matt Parkman. On second thought, I'm not sure I want to know what others are thinking. I already have too many things on MY mind, there's no more room for everybody else's! How about being the time-travelling Hiro? Naah. Baka ma-lost-in-time pa ako and can't find my way back. I also wouldn't want to miss out on special events in life. What's life without those memories, dabah? Sige na nga, I wanna be Spiderman nalang, or one of the PowerPuff girls! Hmpppff! Who to become? What to do... lah?!?

Aha! To just leave the thinking to the good ol' net, I took this personality test in one of the Grey websites -- interesting diagnosis!

If you truly know me, be the judge and let me know if this is true. ;)

Oh well. I'll just be myself... Now that's more like it!!! :)